POLITICAL HISTORY 



On the renewal of hostilities in 1803, under the Army of Reserve Act, 

 a second battalion was added to the 39th,' composed of men from Cheshire, 

 Shropshire, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire. In 1804, under the Addi- 

 tional Forces Act,* 548 additional men were raised in Dorset' for the 

 9th Regiment, and the 2nd battalion of the 39th was augmented by nien 

 from Shropshire. In 1804 the 2nd battalion was in Guernsey, the 

 ist guarded the Sussex shore against the feared invasion by the Boulogne 

 flotilla. The flank companies of the ist battalion took part in the Mediter- 

 ranean Expedition of 1805, and in January 1806 went to Sicily with the 

 King and Queen of Naples, returning to Malta in February. The 2nd bat- 

 talion remained in Guernsey till February 1806, when, after a short time at 

 Cork and Dublin, all its united service men were transferred to a garrison 

 battalion of the latter, and its disposable men were drafted into the ist bat- 

 talion at Malta. In 1807 the officers and non-commissioned officers of the 

 2nd battalion were recruiting in England. On 29 October, 1807, the 

 name of the regiment was changed from the East Middlesex to the 

 Dorset. 



The 2nd battalion was largely recruited from the Militia, and spent 

 1808 in Guernsey. The flank companies of the ist battalion went that 

 year from Malta to Sicily, and in 1809 took from Murat, then king of 

 Naples, the two islands of Ischia and Procida. They spent 18 10 in Sicily. 

 The 2nd battalion went to Spain in 1809, and in 18 10 took part in the 

 operations of Busaco, and distinguished itself greatly at the battle of 

 Albuera (16 May). The ist battalion arrived at Lisbon in 181 1, and 

 was made up to full strength by all the effective men of the 2nd battalion, 

 the skeleton of which then embarked for England and arrived at Weymouth 

 2 March, 18 12. The ist battalion took part in the battle of Salamanca in 

 1812.* The 2nd battalion remained at Weymouth till October, when they 

 went to Exeter, but returned to Weymouth in December. The ist bat- 

 talion, which had lost heavily, but behaved with great gallantry at Vittoria 

 (21 June), was in all the operations against Soult in the Pyrenees, and on 

 the Nive that winter, and was at Orthes and Toulouse in the spring of 

 18 14. The 2nd battalion spent 18 13 at Weymouth. 



After the end of the war in Europe the ist battalion went to North 

 America, and was at Plattsburg, and in the ineffisctive Lake Champlain 

 operations,' returning to Europe just after the battle of Waterloo, in time to 

 join the British Army at Paris. In the same year the effective men of the 

 2nd battalion were transferred to the ist, and the former was disbanded 

 24 December, 18 15. 



The regiment remained in the Pas de Calais till 1818, in December of 

 which year it went to Ireland. In 1825 it was sent to New South 

 Wales to keep order among the convicts. A depot company was left in 

 England, but by 1830 all the rest of the regiment was in New South Wales. 

 It was at this time that Captain Charles Sturt, himself of a well-known 

 Dorset family, made his two journeys into the interior of the conti- 

 nent (1829, 1830) to assist Darling. In 1830 the 39th helped to put 



' 43 Geo. Ill, cap. Ixxxii. ' 44 Geo. Ill, cap. Ivi. 



' Somen, and Dors. N. and O. i, 1 54-5. ' Hist. Rec. of the Brit. Army, 39th Dors. Regt. 54. 



Ibid. 63. 



17X 



